WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.440 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.759 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.839 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.120 Welcome to the Born for War Podcast. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:26.559 Today I want to talk about tribulation. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:28.640 I want to talk about hardship. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:36.799 Just two weeks ago, Jim Cooley in our church was sitting right over here in this area, and he just fell over in church. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:42.399 And we have so many EMTs, so many firefighters, so many nurses and doctors. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:45.679 I mean, he was taken care of really fast and really well. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:01:04.480 I went out after the sermon to see how he was doing in the lobby, and here was a you know, the fire was here, and um and most of the guys in the fire department uh that came were all members of the road, and then probably two-thirds of the guys that were working on Jim were in the fire department. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:05.680 So everybody knew each other. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.840 I walked into a fraternity party, um, and everybody knew what they were doing. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:11.359 It was really exciting, actually. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:13.280 Um he was well taken care of. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:14.719 But life's hard. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:16.799 I mean, you don't know what's gonna happen. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:20.879 Um, some of you may get a tumor, some of you may get cancer. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:26.239 I mean, we go through things that are really, really difficult, and life is malevolent. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:27.760 Life is just difficult. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:29.760 And I trained my kids that way. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:31.200 I just said, look, life's hard. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:35.760 And um, and and if you think it's gonna be easy, then it's gonna be harder. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:38.959 But if you'll think of it as hard, then it'll be a lot easier. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:50.000 So um, Paul here in Romans is showing the sanctification grace of what can happen where we can try actually triumph in tribulation. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:02:07.120 And we have a lot of women in here, and my daughter, my first daughter is Anna, and she had her first child after 60 hours of labor, premature, and so I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, but you guys that have had kids know what that's like. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.479 So we're born into labor. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:15.599 You're born into labor pains, and you're born into tribulation, and life's just not fair. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:16.159 It's hard. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:23.199 And so Job, I think, speaks it well when he said in Job 5.7, for affliction does not come from the dust. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:28.479 Affliction doesn't just come from the dust, nor does trouble just spring out of the ground. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:31.280 No, man is born into trouble. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:35.280 Man is born in trouble as the sparks fly upward. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:43.840 So the picture here is that you're sitting around a fire pit and you got the fire going up, and just as you have a fire and sparks go up, that's trouble. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:45.520 You're gonna have trouble. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:47.360 You're gonna have tribulation. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:54.319 And if you're a happy-go-lucky, everything's going your way, single person, just get married and find out what it's really like. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:54.800 Okay? 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:00.000 And then if you can survive that, then you have kids and hella, right? 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:06.639 So this is the way it is, you know, this is struggles and tribulations, but God has a purpose in it. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:09.199 So turn in your Bibles to Romans 5, that's where we are. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:13.280 And Ryan did a masterful job of covering verses 1 and 2. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:19.759 I'm gonna read them again in the context of where we're going with tribulations and struggles. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:25.919 He says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.159 So there is a there is a peace with God. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:31.039 That's what it says. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:34.800 You have a peace with God when you give your heart to Christ. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.719 So if you're here today and you've not given your heart to Christ, you don't even have peace with God. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:40.560 I mean, you're still in enmity. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:48.479 You're still fighting against God because you don't have a personal, vital, dynamic, growing, healthy relationship with God. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:49.360 So you should do that. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:50.879 So you should receive Christ. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:52.560 It's really smart to do. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:54.080 But that's peace with God. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:55.840 And there's a grace that comes with it. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.879 For by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourself, but the gift of God. 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:02.560 So there's what we call salvation grace. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:04.319 Salvation faith. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:06.000 That's what he's speaking of here. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:10.080 But then verse 2, he switches gears to move toward his point. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:23.199 Here's what he says: Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:24.160 Now, this is different. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:25.519 This is a peace of God. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:27.920 So there's a peace with God, and there's a peace of God. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:30.160 So the peace with God is when you get saved. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.720 You're now reconciled with God. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:35.839 But but living it out's the hard part, right? 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:45.040 I mean, living it out is where we learn to grow with the grace of God to have the peace of God when we go through life. 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:46.879 Life happens. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:51.439 And so there's almost an idol in American Christianity of evangelism. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:58.720 Uh, like the peace with God is way more emphasized than the peace of God. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:04:59.839 That's a problem. 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:12.720 If we took all the statistics from Louis Palau, Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Campus Crusade, Navigators, Greg Laurie, all these evangelists, we've saved America like 10 times over. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:17.600 But if you look at the culture, you go, there's a big disconnect here. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:19.199 What is going on? 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:23.839 You have all these crusades, all these people coming forward, and there's no change in their life. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:29.120 Because we've emphasized peace with God, but not the peace of God. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:38.560 So the grace of God, on the one hand, I'm gonna call it salvation grace, brings you into the fold, but there's another kind of grace. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:43.600 And that's the grace of God that empowers you presently. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:51.680 It's when you're going through hard things and you call out to God and suddenly there's a peace that surpasses all understanding. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.800 That's the sanctification grace of God. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.120 So it's not the salvation grace of God, you got that. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:11.680 But now the grace, see, see, salvation grace comes from the outside in when you get saved, but sanctification grace comes from within you where Christ, listen, he's forming himself in you. 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:17.680 He has to use tribulations, he has to use difficulties, or you'll depend on you. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:27.680 So God puts you into situations that are way above your pay grade, that are air, you never you never signed up for this, but God signed you up for it. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:31.439 He signed you up for it because he's making you like Christ. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:41.279 So all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purposes, to whom he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.360 So he's conforming you. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:45.839 And and unfortunately, it's hard. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.160 And it's really difficult. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.879 And so I want to talk about glory and tribulation. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:13.040 I want to talk about this kind of sanctification grace, which is really the whole rest of the now the two-thirds rest of Romans, is all about this process of A, life being hard, and then B, how you can have victory, how you can have triumph in these difficulties, these tribulations. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.040 That's really what sets us apart. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.399 So you even see it in the movie of Jesus Revolution. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:26.720 You've got you've got Chuck Smith, who is this pastor who's going nowhere, hardly has anybody in his church. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:32.639 He's an old fuddy-duddy kind of guy, and um he quite hasn't quite figured out life. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:37.040 He's got a daughter who's kind of interested in the hippies because they seem kind of cool. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:45.600 And he says to her, I don't know why these hippies don't take a bath, and he's got all these kind of comments, and then she goes, Well, why don't you give them a chance? 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:50.079 And then he says, Well, if you get one, I'll meet him, I'll talk to him. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.800 So she brings on this guy named Lonnie Frisbee. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:59.759 And so Lonnie Frisbee shows up, and um, it's this it's the actor who plays Jesus in The Chosen, so he looks like Lonnie Frisbee. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:00.399 It's pretty cool. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:01.839 He looks like a real hippie, you know. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:08.800 Um and then and then you got this guy named Greg Laurie, who's this young guy who's searching and he's into drugs and stuff. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:09.839 But here's the point. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:11.759 And I won't ruin it for you. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:16.480 But the point is, one of those characters doesn't quite figure it out. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:25.680 One of those characters can't doesn't have the character to take them through the anointing that actually God has on their life. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:28.560 And that's historically accurate too and true. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.279 So God anoints us. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.200 He gives some of you guys special blessings and special anointings in your life. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:36.879 Everybody's got an anointing and something. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:38.399 You do, absolutely. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.799 But if your character can't keep up with the anointing, you lose the anointing. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:43.600 You do. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:53.440 And I've seen so many, I'm old enough now to see so many fired up, excited uh young men and women that are just taking off and they're just making such an impact. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:12.960 But they don't let God, with his sanctifying grace, work on their character, and so their anointing, their empowerment surpasses their character, and man, there's a point where the gig is up, and they get revealed and they lose everything. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:14.080 It's really sad. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:18.720 So he's saying, look, there's gonna be tribulation in your life, but there's actually a purpose for that. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:19.679 Verse 3. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:22.639 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:23.840 Glory in tribulations? 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:24.480 Are you crazy? 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:25.120 What is that? 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:31.679 Glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:34.480 And perseverance, character, and character hope. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:38.240 So this glory in tribulation is not that you should be happy with tribulations. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:41.200 He's not saying, oh, I had I'm so excited that I lost my baby. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.559 Or, you know, that's stupid. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:43.200 You know? 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:44.559 I've seen people like that. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.840 I'm thinking, I think that person might need to see somebody. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:57.200 You know, so it's not glory in the tribulation, it's the glory in what the tribulation can do in your life. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:58.480 Does that make sense? 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:16.799 So it's it's it's looking past the tribulation to the glory of something God's doing in that that's gonna make you a more deeper person, a more character-filled person, a person with more integrity, a person who has empathy. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:19.679 I mean, that's how we develop empathy, right? 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:31.120 We develop empathy by going through difficulties with God, partnering with God, so that we have a heart for people who go through the same dilemmas and struggles that we've had to go through. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:43.360 So here's what tribulation means Tribulation is taken from the Latin and it comes from the word tribulum, a threshing sledge, which separated grain from chaff. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:49.360 It consisted of a wooden platform studded underneath with sharp flints or iron teeth. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:53.519 As this instrument passed over the grain, the wheat was separated from the straw. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:56.799 So I saw these when I was in Israel in uh Judea. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:13.360 It was a heavy platform with these teeth underneath it, and then they take the grain, spill it out on the floor of the barn or whatever they were doing, where they were doing it, and they would put this tribulum and they would drag it, pull it, and it would pull off the chaff. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:24.000 It would pull off the straw, and they do that again and again and again to cleanse the grain so that you had the pure, you started to have the pure grain. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:25.759 So here's what tribulum really means. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.159 Tribulum really means pressure. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:30.960 It means pressure, man. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.559 It means, and this is, yeah, you're gonna hate me, hate this word, but it means crushing. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:40.000 It's God crushing us. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:41.759 That's what tribulum means. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:46.080 We tend to think of tribulation like, well, I'm preaching the gospel and I'm under tribulation. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.679 No, tribulation means pressure, it means crushing. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.960 It's it's going through things in life that aren't fair. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:12:02.320 It's people saying stuff about you, it's it's you just trying to do your best you can to be the best person you can be, and something happens, man. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:03.200 That's tribulation. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:04.240 That's the tribulum. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:10.000 God, he's saying, is in that and he's forming perseverance. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.559 He's forming character. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:23.360 He's doing something, not just good, but he's doing something better in your life than just the good of you being obedient to God. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:34.639 It's not just about obedience, it's about pressing in, pushing through, trusting God in pressure situations, in the crushing. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:39.279 So there's two, there's two symbols in the Bible that mean joy. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:43.840 One is oil, there's the oil of joy, and there is wine. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.759 Wine makes the heart merry. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:50.240 So oil and wine bring us joy in our life. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:53.279 So here's what Psalm 104.15 says. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:56.799 And wine makes glad the heart of man. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:58.879 Oil makes his face shine. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.639 So the idea behind oil, you guys, is it was a cosmetic. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:07.519 It was a cosmetic that they would put on, a woman would put on her face so that her face would shine. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:08.480 So it looked beautiful. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:12.080 A lot of you wear that stuff on your face. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:14.080 Um, and that's great. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:15.120 I think it's good. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.279 I I I like cosmetics. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:21.919 Um I mean, I did it. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.600 Um when I was, I had a lot of acne. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:34.799 I struggled with acne when I was growing up, and there there's this, there was this brown thing you could put to sort of, you know, where people couldn't see all your zits and everything. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:40.240 But um, okay, and then in number six says the Lord bless you and keep you. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:42.799 You like that, huh? 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:44.080 Okay, that's good. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:44.960 All right. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:54.639 No, but but oil, even thousands of years ago, they used it for cosmetics, you know, for beauty. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.120 It's a symbol in scripture of joy. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:02.720 And in number six, it says, The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:10.480 The idea that God shines, he shines upon your face, and you shine, him, because of oil. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:18.080 Um, Psalm 45, 7, therefore, God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:26.559 And and that oil of gladness is something that is key to getting through tribulation. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:29.840 You've got to have joy in the midst of tribulations. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:32.000 So here's the thing, that's interesting. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:35.120 Oil comes from olives. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:42.000 And wine comes from grapes, but the scriptures don't say the grape of joy. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:44.879 It actually talks about the grapes of wrath, right? 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:49.519 It doesn't say that you'll have the joy as unto olives. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:54.240 No, what you have is that olives have to be what? 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:55.759 Crushed. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:59.120 Grapes have to be crushed. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:10.159 So even metaphorically, even physiologically, there is something that the scripture says, Jesus saying, that there's joy in crushing. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:14.879 That the grapes get crushed to get the wine, the olives get crushed to get the oil. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:21.519 And God's building oil and wine in you through crushing, through difficulties, through hardships. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:26.639 And I want to I want you to learn to remind yourself when you're going through stuff, and it'll happen tomorrow. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:28.159 You have to go to work. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:29.759 Right? 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:34.480 And so you go to work, and there's gonna be crushing. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:35.919 And here's what I'm glad of. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:46.799 I'm glad that from Genesis 3, which Mandy and Liz are teaching right now to the women, is that I got the curse of work. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:52.480 Because first of all, I'm already I'm already created by God to do work, but then it's gonna be hard. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:55.519 I would much rather have that than labor. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:01.919 And and to see what you women have to go through because of the curse is incredible. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:04.000 But what is it we know about labor? 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:06.960 Labor, to me, it's a great picture. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:16.000 That you go through labor and and you and you scream and you holler and you grit your teeth and all the things. 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:18.000 I've been a part of seven of these things, okay? 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:22.159 Live, you know, present, present issue, hours of it. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:30.000 Woo! You know, and you're you're going through it, but but then man, it's like the baby comes. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:34.159 And we listen, I just we I don't think we've ever talked about labor. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:35.759 We always talk about the child. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:37.039 That's what we talk about. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:40.240 That's that's a picture of tribulation. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:51.440 God takes us through tribulation because he's got a baby for you to birth, he's got something for you to birth in your life that can't come except through that labor and that hardship and that difficulty. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:53.519 He says perseverance, it's character, it's hope. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.399 It's those things that he's he's building into our lives. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:03.039 And so, tribulation doesn't happen to you, tribulation happens for you. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:07.680 Tribulation is not something that happens to you, it's something that happens for you. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.720 And so God's conforming you to the image of his son. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.039 That's what Romans 8, 28, and 29 is saying. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:14.319 He's conforming you. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.799 So we call it a testimony, right? 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:18.559 Test imony. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:22.960 We like the moy, but we don't like the test part. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:25.680 So this person's gonna give their testimony. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:29.519 We're hearing the I in the middle, test, I, moy. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:32.880 They're giving the moy part, but what they're talking about is a test. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:36.400 But you don't have a testimony unless you go through the test. 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:40.400 Testimony, test I moany. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:42.640 That's life. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:44.319 Hello? 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:46.000 That's life, right? 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:49.920 So I want to give you three forms of suffering that that we go through. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.319 Let me give you three forms of suffering that are part of our journey. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:56.880 The first is corrective, corrective suffering. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:59.200 The first is corrective. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:03.759 This is because you can be an idiot. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:07.519 Okay, so this is this is you being just stupid. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:10.480 And and everybody hears stupid sometimes, okay? 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:12.640 So that's sin in your life. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:14.079 That's where you have really chosen. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.839 I mean, like, I wake up in the I mean, I used to wake up in the morning with a hangover. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:26.880 Not during gymnastic season, but I mean, I that was, I can't blame, oh, I'm just blaming God because I'm throwing up, you know, and hugging the toilet or something. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.119 No, that's because I drank too much the night before. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:35.680 So if you're a pothead and you smoke pot all the time, then you're gonna be slower than everybody else. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:36.960 You just are. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:38.240 All the statistics show that. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:40.240 You're just gonna be slow in the uptake. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:46.480 So if you're a pothead, then don't blame God because you're slow, it's because you're an idiot and you keep smoking pot. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:46.960 Okay. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:19:02.400 So, so you take drugs, let's say, you know, whatever it is you do, you have to deal with the consequences, and God wants to correct you, and He's but He He's already corrected you because you're breaking kingdom laws, and then kingdom laws are breaking you. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:03.359 Right? 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:15.039 So, if you go and drink, you know, a ton of liquor tonight, go home and just kind of drink it up, you're gonna have a headache the next morning. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:19.599 God's correcting you by letting your body tell you, dumb. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:21.200 You're dumb. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:22.240 Don't do that. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:23.599 You need to grow up a little bit. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:25.200 Grow up before you grow old. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:26.960 So that's corrective. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:34.400 And what's funny is how many Christians blame God and they'll be they'll come to me and they're like about God and everything. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:40.720 And I'm like, dude, you created the circumstance, and you're gonna have to get out of it. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:49.359 Now, here's the difference you can either get out of it without God, or you can get out of it with partnership with God. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:53.680 I say you should choose the latter, it's smart, and you can start growing. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:55.359 So it's kind of like two paths. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:00.799 You're walking down the trail, and you got two paths, and this path is really wide. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.799 It's nice, it's maybe it's even paved with asphalt. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:05.279 Okay? 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.599 And you got this beautiful path, and it looks great. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:10.160 There's no branches, there's no thorns or anything. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:13.839 And then it's gonna cross over the top of the crest of the hill. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:15.599 So you can't see the other side. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:25.519 Then here's this other one, and it's really small, and it's got a lot of bushes around it, and it might, and it seems harder, and there's and hardly anybody's been on that trail. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.960 And it also goes to the top of the summit and crests over. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:30.240 Here's where it is. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:52.240 So you're coming along, and all your friends are on the paved road, man, and they're going there laughing, they're having fun, and then they cross over the summit and they go down, and it's full of thistles, quicksand, thorns, and those people always come back all bloodied up and bloodshot and messed up. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:53.920 Then here's this other one, it's harder. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.400 Not many, you have to maybe you even have what goes sideways. 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:01.440 It's a small, narrow way, and it's slippery because hardly anybody's been on it. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:03.839 Definitely not paved. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.799 But you cross over that summit and it's green pastures, man. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:10.720 It's living water. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:16.480 And the more you walk it, the more you drink from the living water, the healthier you get. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:19.279 Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:21.680 Which one you want? 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:26.240 Because this is the easy way, this is the hard way. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:33.599 But this is the easy way at first, and then it's the harder way. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:41.119 This is the hard way at the beginning, and it can get better and better as you go through life because you get smarter and smarter. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:42.319 And I'm for smart. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:43.279 I dig smart. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:45.839 I think smart is the best way to go. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:47.599 Second is constructive. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:50.079 So, first is corrective, second is constructive. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:54.000 And constructive is where all of us go through hard things. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:56.400 I mean, you didn't have anything, you're you're doing the best you can. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:10.559 You're trying to be a good mom, you're trying to be a good dad, you're trying to be A good single person, you're walking in purity, or you're following the Lord, but God's going to just do stuff because He loves you and He's going to take you through hard things. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:20.000 And it's like that sculpture with the marble block, like the great artist Benavuno Cellini, who he wrote an autobiography, it's really cool. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:28.559 And he talks about the feelings that he went through when he looks at this massive marble and he's going to start chiseling away. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:31.279 So God's going to chisel away. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:34.960 But it's constructive, it's not corrective. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:37.519 It's God just making you a better person. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:43.119 It's God helping you to learn how to have some endurance in your life. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:48.640 So in our family, everybody had to have a business by the time they were 18 years old. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.000 So every kid in the whole family had to have a business by the time they were 18 years old. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:53.440 Didn't matter what it was, it could be. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:56.240 I think Anna was pressed flowers. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:01.440 She had pressed flowers that she glued to greeting cards, and she went through the church. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:06.240 And I think everybody in our church bought one of her greeting cards at some point at Mountain Springs. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:07.200 So we did that. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:08.559 And then different kids did different stuff. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:13.759 And some kids were a little bit more, made a lot more money than others, but everybody had to do that. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:18.640 And I hold to the philosophy, don't do for your kids what they can do for themselves. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:22.960 Because if you don't, because I want them to be, I want them to be growing. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:31.519 And some of you that are like helicopter parents and you have to do everything for your kids, you're you're you're handicapping your kids sometimes. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:36.559 Because when you do that, and I'm not talking about grace and love and all that, you need to have all that great stuff. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:37.759 I mean, it's really good. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:44.799 Um but there's times where they're doing dumb stuff. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:53.759 And you come in and you're the big rescuer, you're enabling what the enemy wants to do in their life, not what God wants to do. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:24:00.559 And sometimes you need to back up and you need to let the consequences fall so that they can learn to grow. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:01.920 Hello? 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.599 And so and so that's the construction of what God's doing in our lives. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:10.640 God is teaching us and he's training us and he's chiseling away in our lives. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:13.839 And you know the story of the ancient times with the silversmith and the goldsmith. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:20.160 So I've been over to North Africa and stuff, and I've seen die, but I've never seen actually a goldsmith and silversmith. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:21.119 So it's just stuff I've read. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:24.880 But sounds like they would get a fire and it'd actually be in the town square. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:33.680 They'd heat up this vat and uh with them with the heavy metals that they had put in there to get the gold and the silver out, and then they would have the dross. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:46.799 The impurities would rise to the top, and they'd skim it off, and they were looking for their their vision, their the the sight of the of the artisan, the sight of the goldsmith, the silver smith in the silver, and that's what God's doing. 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:50.640 All things work together for good. 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:54.240 To those who love God and are called according to his purpose. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:59.119 For those to whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of God. 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:03.599 So he's working, he's heating up, he's heating it up. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:13.279 He's taking us through tribulums, he's taking us through pressure so that we can look more and more like Christ and trust less in ourselves and more of him. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:18.799 So suffering is corrective, suffering is constructive, but suffering is also chosen. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:28.640 And what I mean by that is there are people that God has chosen to go through great suffering for God's greater glory. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:37.839 And we we come to the ninth chapter of John's gospel, and Jesus passes by a man born blind, and the disciples say, Master, who did sin? 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.519 This man or his parents? 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:48.400 And then Jesus said, Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifest in him. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:26:04.799 So God sometimes takes special people through very difficult times and difficult circumstances because they're chosen by him to bring great glory to God by their responses to him. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:11.839 Helen Keller, born blind and mute, once said, character cannot be formed in ease and quiet. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:19.839 Only through experience of trial and suffering, can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:26.960 You know, it you could go in some many different ways, but to study Helen Keller's life is a great thing. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:35.680 Nick Bucevic, who was born without arms or legs, and I've read both of his books, Life Without Limits, and his second book, Unstoppable. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:40.480 When you look at the picture of Nick on the front, and I've not met Nick, I want to meet Nick someday. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:43.519 I've had opportunities to meet him, but various reasons I haven't met him. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:45.440 But he's on a surfboard, man. 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.960 The guy's got no arms and no legs, and he's surfing. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:51.440 Now that's a dude, man. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:52.000 Okay? 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:55.599 And he it was no it was no sin. 00:26:56.559 --> 00:27:03.440 I mean, all I would say this, all hardship has some element of sin in it, but it wasn't Nick's sin. 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:06.880 But he's born without arms. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:08.079 Without legs. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:10.799 At one point he he planned to commit suicide. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.839 And then he had a he had a revelation of God. 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:16.880 He had a revelation of God's grace in his life. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:18.160 And this is what he said. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:20.640 If you can't get a miracle, become one. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:23.680 If you can't get a miracle, become one. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:31.279 For some of you out here that are feeling like it's the worst day of your life or you're going through something really hard, you might want to read Unstoppable. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:32.960 Read that book. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:35.119 Read uh Life Without Limits. 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:36.000 Great books. 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:41.359 I mean, it's just any of us looking at what we go through and to see what Nick's been through. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:44.079 How he trained himself to speak. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:46.720 How he trained himself to be an entrepreneur. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:50.559 How he trained himself to make friends and to be a friend to others. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:51.440 That's his message. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.839 His message is faith in action. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:56.559 That's his whole point is faith in action. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:05.119 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:14.240 Now, hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:20.960 So there's this hope, church, that's from the Holy Spirit that's within you. 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:57.359 It's not just a hope of glory, that's verse two, or the hope and the joy that we have because we've been justified by faith, which is verse one, he's saying there's a different kind of hope, and this is a hope that in our present circumstances, in our present pain, God's doing something in us to make us different, to transform us, because now the Spirit is within us, and it's the inward work of the Spirit making us look more and more like Jesus. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:25.920 What would happen in our culture if we as believers, let's just start at the road at Chapel Hills, if 1,500 or 2,000 of us, whatever we are, if we just tried as best we could through the power of the Spirit to partner with God, that today, just today, and then when it comes tomorrow, just tomorrow, just the next day, just one day at a time, said I'm gonna partner with God no matter what happens today. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:29.119 And I'm gonna triumph in any circumstance. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:31.839 I have what it takes. 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:33.440 I have what it takes. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:35.680 I am wired for battle. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:38.480 I am wired for conflict. 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:41.599 Folks, you are not wired for peace. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:48.319 People, most people in peace and prosperity don't do well. 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:49.759 They just don't. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:59.519 That's why these trust babies, these men and women that, you know, they get the big trust and they got millions of dollars, and it just comes in every month, they don't have to work, they're the most unhappy people in the world, most of them. 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:10.559 But you show me somebody who's got to work, you show somebody who's got to dive in, dig in, work hard, partner with God, pray, fast, seek the Lord, they're the happiest people in the world. 00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:16.240 Because you're wired for conflict, you're wired for hardship and difficulties in your life. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:17.519 And you can do it. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:30.960 And he's saying that through the power of the Spirit, there's now this hope, and this hope in our spirit is what God's doing through through his spirit being poured out into our hearts. 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:37.200 So Jim Cooley, you know, fell over uh two weeks ago, has been in the hospital. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:40.559 And this is one of Nancy's texts to me. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:45.599 She said, Quote, it's been most devastating, but our God is a big God. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.720 He never wastes something so bad to not use it for his good. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:52.000 Isn't that great? 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:53.839 That's faith in action. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:00.319 That's not just faith in the theory, that's faith in action through hardship. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:05.759 Nick Bushevik said, putting faith in action is about believing and achieving. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:16.240 It's about having faith in yourself, your talents, your purpose, and most of all in God's love and his divine plan in your life. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:18.799 Folks, character matters. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:20.880